Are teachers prepared to deal with the increase in mental health problems in their students?

According to the report The situation of children in Spain 2022, prepared by the Children’s Platform, in recent years there has been an increase of up to 47% in mental health disorders in childhood and adolescence. Since 2019, cases of anxiety, depression, and ADHD diagnoses have multiplied among young people in Spain.

All this has added to the increase in suicidal behavior that young people also experience within educational centers. In February, the management team of the La Moreria institute, in Mislata (Valencia), resigned after being overwhelmed by the increase in procedures for suicidal, self-injurious or violent behavior among students.

Faced with this situation, teachers have spent years denouncing that educational centers lack both administrative and human resources to meet the needs of students in terms of mental health.

“The increase in mental health problems in childhood and adolescence has been precipitated by the pandemic and confinement, which has reduced the well-being of our students and that of everyone in general,” explains Dr. Carlota Pérez Sancho, academic director of the degrees of Teacher in Early Childhood and Primary Education of the International University of La Rioja (UNIR).

In this context, teachers play a fundamental role, since young people spend a large part of their day to day within the walls of their educational center. “Teachers must be prepared to face the educational needs present in the classrooms, prepared to observe and refer difficulties that may arise on a day-to-day basis, as well as being able to support and help in carrying out educational interventions aimed at the diversity of the classroom”, says Dr. Pérez Sancho.

The problem is that meeting all these needs is not easy. “Being prepared and knowing the mental health problems of students is not an easy task. For this reason, it is necessary to be constantly updated on the problems that our students present, explains Dr. Montserrat Amorós Gómez, academic coordinator of the area of ​​Educational Psychology and Psychobiology of the Faculty of Education of the International University of La Rioja (UNIR). ).

The greatest difficulty that teachers encounter, according to the experts, is the lack of specific resources in schools to meet the needs of students.

“We can have teachers and specialists trained in mental health, but they must be able to provide individualized support to the needs of each student. A service that cannot be limited to once every 15 days or every month. They must be specific educational interventions of listening, detection of needs, working together with all the agents involved in the training of our students. We can have very good professionals trained in mental health, but do we have the means and resources so that they can carry out their work, helping and supporting our students?” reflects Dr. Pérez Sancho.

“Unfortunately, seeing the increase in bullying in our classrooms, the self-injurious behaviors and suicidal behaviors manifested by our students, among other mental health problems, it seems that unfortunately the system is not one hundred percent prepared to give a preventive response and action. to the demands of our students”, adds Dr. Amorós Gómez.

Coinciding with this situation, the Ministry of Universities plans to introduce training on managing emotions and social and personal skills in the Early Childhood and Primary Education Teaching degree. Specifically, a 6-credit module called “Interpersonal relations and social skills in the educational community” is proposed for future nursery and primary school teachers.

Experts agree that this training is essential. “Teachers must be the first to develop certain basic social skills such as empathy, assertiveness, active listening that allow them to maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with all members of the educational community: management team, the rest of the teachers of the educational center , the students and their families”, explains Amorós Gómez.

This type of training not only brings personal benefits for the teacher himself, but is also essential for the development of social skills in students. “That students know themselves better and know how to regulate their negative emotions, such as anxiety or boredom, contributes to improving academic performance since they will be able to deploy self-motivation or stress management strategies that will allow them to achieve their academic goals ”, concludes Pérez Sancho.